http://www.care2.com/greenliving/happiness-is-good-for-you.html
Happiness Is Good for You
I’ve always cringed at research (and opinion) that suggests that optimists, or just people with good attitudes, are healthier. It sounds very much to me like a “blame the victim” mentality: If you’re sick, it’s because of your bad attitude. It leads to insulting comments, such as telling people with blinding headaches or painful arthritis (afflictions that, unlike a bad cold, tend not to be apparent to others) that they should just get up and do something, make themselves feel better, stop whining and giving in to it.
Yet there is something going on here that perhaps we shouldn’t ignore. Some fairly impressive data does suggest that people with good attitudes–happy people–are healthier and suffer less from chronic illnesses. The obvious reason is that (big surprise!) if you are healthier, you tend to be happier; feeling good makes you happy, and being ill can definitely put a damper on your mood.
However, studies that adjust for the fact that healthy people are happier come to the same basic conclusion: Regardless of other factors, happy people are at less risk of chronic illness. So I’ve been rethinking my knee-jerk reaction to these “optimism is good for you” studies (although I’m still not totally convinced). And in the process, I was reminded of something Rosemary Gladstar said in her book Rosemary Gladstar’s Family Herbal: “ … I believe,” wrote Gladstar,“that heartbreak–not the classic heartbreak of breaking up with your first sweetheart, but the loneliness of spirit so many people experience today–is the underlying cause of most heart disease.” She goes on to say, “There is no greater benefactor to well-being than the satisfaction of a well-lived life.” When you put like that, it sounds less like blaming the victim and more like actually listening to and treating the patient.
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7 comments
add your comment »I can't speak for other people..but I'm happy..just being alive is good. My worst fear..(death of my children) hasn't happened..everything else is just life enfolding..
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that was very informational and that is true laughing can help us be healthier
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Little changes are sometimes all it takes to make a huge shift. Happy thoughts- when turned into a habit... can change the way we feel and in turn the reality of our moment.
It takes more effort to change our thoughts and stick with them, then to swallow a pill and go right back to all of our negative " unhappy" thoughts.
Allie
http://clarksplayground.com/index.php/2008/08/14/how-can-you-make-recycling-easier/
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Laughing can keep us healthy. There is an article about this at http://www.healthmad.com/Health/The-Gift-of-Laughter.129977
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Laughing can keep us healthy. There is an article about this at http://www.healthmad.com/Health/The-Gift-of-Laughter.129977
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Not only does it have blame-the-victim overtones, but it adds insult to injury: not only are you sick, not only is it your fault that you're sick because you have such a bad attitude, but you're miserable, too!
What's more, long-term research suggests that people have very little control over how happy they are. People seem to have a "happiness set point" and their external circumstances change this only briefly. People who were pretty chipper at age three will still be happy at 63, even if they have lost a spouse and had a debilitating accident in the meantime. How totally unfair is that?
The trouble is, it's true that happy people are healthier.
Maybe recognizing that people don't become happy through sheer will power can make it more palatable.
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I agree that it's unhelpful to suggest to people who suffer from painful and debilitating complaints that they just "get happy" - but there is a more useful way to look at this link. If you are looking after your health and taking care to shed stress, and especially eating light and nutritious food, (organic vegetables and salads!) then it is far easier to feel upbeat and positive. I'm sure a lot of depression is caused by poor dietary choices.
There is a deep seated problem in modern society, too. We are just too obsessed with the next thing - materialist quests of various kinds - and old-fashioned things such as family and community get lost in the stampede! I also think that there is a significant proportion of the population in many nations who lead over-stressed lives because they simply have to work too hard and long to earn a decent living. It's easy to fall victim to a cycle of comfort eating and binge drinking when daily life is a round of work and chores.
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